Best Campaign for Skill Capture

Teh Awesome One

Pre-Searing Cadet

Join Date: Aug 2009

In preparation for the upcoming skill cap event, I'm considering starting an LS character. Which campaign should I start off @ where I will be able to cap the most skills easiest?

Olim Chill

Olim Chill

Wilds Pathfinder

Join Date: Oct 2007

USA

DMI

N/

I'd say Nightfall is the easiest. Its boss locations are highly cap-friendly.

Shayne Hawke

Shayne Hawke

Departed from Tyria

Join Date: May 2007

Clan Dethryche [dth]

R/

I don't know which one is easier, but Prophecies is definitely the worst for capping specific elites.

If I'm not mistaken, I don't think skill captures are recommended for Survivors as much anymore, as there are a number of farms that will net you more experience faster.

Eragon Zarroc

Eragon Zarroc

Atra estern?? ono thelduin

Join Date: Jan 2008

Madness Incarnate

[Duo]

W/P

I wouldn't just pick a campaign. I would take a look at the areas that you are in so far and look at the wiki maps of boss locations. pick out the ones that are very easy to get to and cap them. after finding all the easy caps in the areas you already have, start doing the same for the next areas that you may be able to easily progress to. if you haven't already, i would be working on progressing to newer areas so that u don't have to do so as much during the weekend. staying away from prophecies is prolly the best way to go campaign-wise though since boss locations tend to be randomized. the others are fairly equivilant.

Rhadamanthys

Rhadamanthys

Academy Page

Join Date: May 2005

Quote:
Originally Posted by Shayne Hawke View Post

If I'm not mistaken, I don't think skill captures are recommended for Survivors as much anymore, as there are a number of farms that will net you more experience faster.

I think he meant Legendary Skill-hunter.

Chthon

Grotto Attendant

Join Date: Apr 2007

Well... if you're looking for 1 continent to max, do Cantha. Far fewer total elites than Elona and far fewer obnoxious random rotating spawns than Tyria.

If you're just looking to cap a bunch of elites, not necessarily finish the title for the continent, Elona probably has the most "low hanging fruit" elite caps. Kourna is loaded with 'em.

Xx Da Best Xx

Xx Da Best Xx

Frost Gate Guardian

Join Date: May 2008

LA

Factions was easy...I did it over a month without constantly capping. If i were you, id do it by profession so its easier to keep track of...or attribute

Kook~NBK~

Grotto Attendant

Join Date: Mar 2005

A little chalet outside Drok's

Natural Born Killaz

Kourna in Nightfall is, IMHO, the easiest place to cap elite skills. There are plenty of bosses in each area, and none of them are particularly tough. (I think the Dervish avatars are the most challenging in Kourna) Also, I think that gaining access to all of the areas in Kourna is faster than accessing as many elite-skill areas in factions.

Prophecies wouldn't be good for a new survivor character because it's so much bigger than any of the others, the bosses have random spawns, and it would take almost as long just to get run to the various areas (S. Shiverpeaks, Desert, and RoF) than it would take to play through to Kourna in Nightfall.

Hollygen

Hollygen

Core Guru

Join Date: Feb 2007

UK

Blinkie Ponie Armie [bpa]

R/

The two real annoyances when I was going for Leg Skill Hunter were Tyria, with it's random spawns (oh am I glad i don't have to go though that run around again) and Torment

If you're looking for quick caps whilst you get the bonus, and arn't focused on clearing a continent, then most the rest are pretty straight forward.
Factions is the easier if you want to get one of the Skill Hunter titles

Sookie

Sookie

Lion's Arch Merchant

Join Date: Jan 2008

NoCenTex

[AKA] Guild Leader

R/

Quote:
Originally Posted by Kook~NBK~ View Post
Kourna in Nightfall is, IMHO, the easiest place to cap elite skills. There are plenty of bosses in each area, and none of them are particularly tough. (I think the Dervish avatars are the most challenging in Kourna) Also, I think that gaining access to all of the areas in Kourna is faster than accessing as many elite-skill areas in factions.
I totally agree. Nightfall (Kourna) is by far the skill cap bonanza. Bosses are out in the open and easy to get to. If you get the boss maps at the wiki or have them in the Mapping Out utility, you can see how many and how varied the bosses are.

HawkofStorms

HawkofStorms

Hall Hero

Join Date: Aug 2005

E/

I'd also like to remind you that you can head over to GW:EN once you get lvl 10 and get a lot of elites that are harder to find from other campaigns.

rkubik

Lion's Arch Merchant

Join Date: Jul 2006

I would probably have to go with nightfall because they are easy to get to and there is a good variety. Although I have some reservations about saying prophecies because of the nostalgia. Prophecies sucks to cap though because of the spawn points. There was one mesmer boss in the ring of fire that took me over 20 zones to get him to spawn. There is something awesome about getting to Maw and capping FoC, it is something I will always remember about the game.

subarucar

subarucar

Desert Nomad

Join Date: Jul 2006

New Zealand

None

If you are planning on grabbing all the continents I would actually recommend beginning with Tyria. This way you don't get so irritated at random spawns after completing easy places like Elona and Cantha. You can manage to pick a few Tyrian elites from EOTN, so look out for them, also capture core elites in other continents.

Attack&Defend

Ascalonian Squire

Join Date: Nov 2009

An Army of Heros [HERO]

Mo/

I'd start with factions, thats just me but it has some easy ones, and some hard ones. Also since i planned on doing this two i noted that i can clear a profession in about 4/5 hours (in factions). Also i'm pretty sure there would be some cores in factions or in the area around shing jea. correct me if im wrong and that'd lessen the amount of elites you need to capt. in tyrian. Also, if your going for the GW:En title (forget its name) then capturing elites in there might be a good idea, seeing as if you take the blessings, you'd gain rep. points while getting to bosses. but i'd save that for a none double weekend.

Yuna Matsumarui

Frost Gate Guardian

Join Date: Mar 2009

Me/

Quote:
Originally Posted by Chthon View Post
Well... if you're looking for 1 continent to max, do Cantha. Far fewer total elites than Elona and far fewer obnoxious random rotating spawns than Tyria.

If you're just looking to cap a bunch of elites, not necessarily finish the title for the continent, Elona probably has the most "low hanging fruit" elite caps. Kourna is loaded with 'em.
agreed. I've done Factions in 1 week on my mesmer. might get boring at like day 4 because all you do is capturing useless elite skills which you will never use (Primal Rage isn't rly useful for a mesmer.. ) and I was real likely to quit, but I went on and bought some elite skill tomes for the last elites (in the harder areas).
I only play like 2-3 hours a day, but I had already captured all mesmer elite skills.

that would give me 120 factions elite skills - (+ -) 20 from the mesmer line, 100 in 7 days 3 hours a day. 100 :21 = 5 every hour.

chocodiledundee

chocodiledundee

Academy Page

Join Date: Mar 2009

England

Dragon Lords of Order [lord]

W/Mo

whats this skill capping event?

Vendetta Wish

Vendetta Wish

Ascalonian Squire

Join Date: Apr 2008

REZZ

W/P

The Tool called "Mapping Out", which can be found here on guru is great for finding heavily populated areas with caps and is great for managing your elites. I have been using it for completing my titles in Factions and Proph. and it works like a champ!!

http://www.guildwarsguru.com/forum/f...splay.php?f=22

Voodoo Rage

Voodoo Rage

Desert Nomad

Join Date: Mar 2008

Sacramento, CA

Geezers

R/

Start with capturing all the core elites. Consult wiki and decide on the the easiest source of capture. Many of them are actually easier from an EOTN source or even some Tyrian spawns that happen to be near a portal. Also be aware of any potential skill captures available to you from a particular mission that you can only play once. I remember being disappointing that I didn't take advantage of a few fairly convenient ones that I closed out missions on.

A few other tips:

- Remember you can carry up to 3 capture signets, so in any map, you should be very aware of how many elites you might potentially be able to grab (especially when you are slogging through a lot of those Ring of Fire captures). Usually you want to capture an elite from your primary profession and a 2nd from your secondary.

- Don't forget you need skill points to buy those capture sigs. For me, that was the biggest pain in the butt, having to farm experience points in order to buy all those sigs. It helps to have an easy solo farm available to you like raptor farming to get experience as needed. Obviously the double experience this weekend will help.

- Use the mapping out program (also grab your free Nightfall treasures as you are running around).

- It might be worth your time using elite tomes for some of the more difficult or cumbersome captures if you have already unlocked them on other characters.

- Some of the Eye of the North elites can not realistically be captured because the mission ends as soon as the boss goes down (Spiteful Spirit from Harvest Soulreign, don't bother --> get it out of Camp Rankor).